24 (The Killid Group) — The Taliban has rejected calls for a ceasefire in Afghanistan during the holy month of Ramadan, which begins Friday, said the group spokesman on Twitter.
Suhail Shaheen, a spokesman for the Taliban’s political office in Qatar said in a tweet on Thursday that its agreement with the United States represents an internationally accepted “comprehensive framework” on how to promote Afghan peace.
“The Islamic Emirate accepted a comprehensive framework(of peace) by signing the Agreement with US which was also confirmed by the Security Council and the International Community . If it is implemented (fully), it will take us to a lasting peace and ceasefire,” said Suhail Shaheen in a tweet.
He further added in his tweet that calling for ceasefire is not “rational and convincing” at a time that lives of thousands of [Taliban] inmates are in danger due to coronavirus pandemic and the “hurdles” made to the peace process and to the full implementation of the peace pact signed between the U.S. and the group.
The U.S.-Taliban agreement signed on 29th of February calls for the release of up to 5,000 Taliban inmates from Afghan jails in exchange for 1,000 government security forces being captivated by the insurgents.
Earlier this month, the two foes [from the Taliban and the Afghan government] for prisoner swap talks were negotiating in Kabul to try to finalize the process that was originally supposed to take place by March 10 and pave the path for intra-Afghan peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban.
The Afghan government, which was not part of the accord signed between the United States and the insurgents, began a phased release of prisoners earlier this month and so far has freed at least 480 prisoners of the Taliban militants, while in return the Taliban has freed 60 Afghan forces it was holding as captives.
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